This invention relates generally to a secure mailbox with mail storage and a theft prevention device which prevents thefts of articles received in the mailbox.
The mailbox of the present invention allows a mail carrier to deliver mail or to pickup mail in the normal manner. The mailbox of the present invention also allows accepting and storing mails in a secure, theft-proof manner, and allows easy retrieval of delivered mails at a later date instead of making a trip to the post office. The mailbox of the present invention further allows to eliminate time consuming trips to a post office for requesting to hold mails at the post office during vacation or business trips or for any other short or long period of time. In addition, the mailbox of the present invention also allows regular mail delivery, mail pickup and retrieval without interfering with stored mails. The mailbox of the present invention provides a safe deposit of delivered mail to be retrieved at a later date.
Conventionally, a mailbox erected at the edge of a roadway or curb side of a street in a rural area, town and village is used primarily for temporarily holding or storing delivered mail for a short duration, for example, for a few hours or a day or several days, without providing safeguards against theft of the delivered mail.
Many users of mailboxes in rural areas, towns and villages would prefer to have their valuable mail stored in a safe manner and without interruption of daily mail delivery, while having the flexibility of storing mail for a long period of time while they are away and allowing them to retrieve stored mail at a later date when they return.
Several known mailboxes have sought to safeguard delivered mail by providing locks and slots for retrieval, but have generally failed to provide sufficiently convenient, long term storage and retrieval capabilities. Such prior art mailboxes are disclosed in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,724,999 to Fitzgerald et al; 4,993,626 to Berry; and 5,526,979 to Mann. The present invention is directed to improvements over these prior art devices.
In addition, the U.S. Post Office provides mailboxes at street corners which are capable of collecting mail which is to be picked up by post office personnel. However, such mailboxes, if used as mailboxes for individuals, do not provide a method of retrieving the delivered and held mail in the mailbox without accessing the storage compartment of the mailbox with keys, and do not provide a method of holding outgoing mail which is to be picked up by a mail carrier.
It is therefore desired to provide a secure mailbox with a device which is capable of accepting and holding mail and which provides for convenient retrieval of the mail by the mailbox owner on a daily basis and which also allows outgoing mail to be picked up by a mail carrier on a daily basis, without interfering with previously stored mail. In addition, it is desired to provide such a mailbox device which allows the continuous and secure storage of delivered mail. Still further, it is desired to provide such a mailbox device which provides secure mail storage for a long period of time, and convenient retrieval capabilities, without dependence on visiting a post office to recover mail which has been held in the post office.